Body camera maker Axon requested a contract for fount recognition software program from an artificial intelligence operation inauguration , theWall Street Journal reports , which stands to further fearfulness from concealment advocates about the DoS of surveillance in America .
In a report on the futurity of concealment and face recognition , WSJ talk with Brian Brackeen , chief executive officer of Kairos , a startup specializing in both AI and face up recognition . Brackeen claim Axon bespeak the inauguration ’s cheek recognition package , but Kairos declined .
TheWall Street Journalwrites :
lots of inauguration offer … face - recognition armed service . One such startup , Kairos , refuses to sell its technology to governments or their contractors , says CEO Brian Brackeen . Among the contracts he say his company has refused was a request for a face - recognition system by Axon Enterprise Inc. , formerly Taser International , a maker of constabulary torso cameras and electroshock weapons .
WSJ also report that an unknown company requested to use Kairos ’ engineering in drones . Axon was not named , though we ’ve asked the company to clarify if its talks with Kairos admit the use of face recognition in drones .
When Gizmodo get through out for comment , an Axon voice asserted that the company “ is not developing facial recognition technology ” but add that “ we do see the value in this next capability ” while agnize the privacy and right issues involved in such a use . The spokesperson wrote in an e-mail :
As a technology society , Axon is constantly judge all dissimilar technologies in order of magnitude to be current in our understanding of their capableness . These discussions are not an endorsement of any technology nor an indication we are going to utilise this technology in our communication channel of products . At this point in sentence , Axon is not developing facial recognition technology .
To clarify , we abide by our program line put up to you antecedently : While we are not actively work out on facial recognition at this time , we do see the value in this next capacity . We also sympathise the potential issues around privacy rights and risks associated with mis - designation of individuals . That is why we prefer to assemble an AI Ethics Board to aid us sympathise both the risk of infection and benefit before we begin to train such technologies .
Axon established an AI Ethics Board in May , though it ’s ill-defined if board appendage were aware of the company ’s describe public lecture with Kairos .
Axon is the leading provider of vary police engineering science in the United States . Formerly cite Taser International , the company was the largest provider of its signature Taser stun guns . Since its rebranding , Axon became the lead trafficker of body cameras , adopt its lead competitor , Vievu , in the first place this year and offering a controversialfree twelvemonth - long trialof the tv camera to any law department . The free cameras also add up fully integrated with Evidence.com , Axon ’s proprietary cloud direction system used to store and edit body television camera footage .
Which brings us back to confront realization . In 2017 , Axon beganacquiring reckoner visual sense start - ups , hugely enhancing police agencies ’ power to sort through enormous amounts of footage . At the time , Axonclaimed it onlyplanned to habituate computer vision for automated redaction . With this feature , AI automatically edited out the nerve and phonation of multitude seize in the footage . But , lend oneself AI to personify camera footage instantly implicated privateness exponent , who warned that enabling face recognition in body cameras would stand for police could fundamentally execute ID check on anyone , anytime , anyplace .
police force are already using face recognition . In May , the American Civil Liberties Unionreleased internal emails detailingAmazon ’s work on Rekognition , its facial expression realisation technology , which the ship’s company has supplied to police department . The ACLU ’s investigation found that law had used Amazon ’s boldness credit technology to match suspect and witnesses against mugshot databases . consistence cameras come up up in these talk , when a Washington County law official asked Amazon employees for help with “ people challenge , ” refer to a potential public backlash to Cam integrated with case acknowledgment engineering science . In reply , Amazonemployees have campaigned forCEO Jeff Bezos to finish the company ’s partnerships with law enforcement .
Axon has repeatedly denied all title that it is researching expression recognition applied science , but it ’s important to emphasize what a gamechanger such a growth would be , were it or another company to move in that counseling . Last yr , the companyunveiled the “ Axon Citizen ” production , which lets the public firmly get off video footage to law office . In June , Axonpartnered with DJIto offer drone integrated with Evidence.com to police . Privacy advocates warn of a future where officers could apply face acknowledgement to footage from so many varying sources , from drones overhead to CCTV footage to police officers ’ cameras to the footage uploaded from the world .
[ WSJ ]
Surveillance
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